North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s – George and Serena Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire. Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness.
David Russell was born in New York City, New York, the son of Maria (née Muzio) and Bernard Russell, who was a sales executive for Simon & Schuster. His father was from a Russian Jewish family, while his mother was Italian American and Catholic. He was raised in an atheist household.
